Torpedo steering-gear.



W. DIETER.

TORPEDO STEERING GEAR.

I APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3, 1917- 1,233,71 Patented; July 17,1917.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IE 7 Mil": I I

INVENTOR By Azzowzeys,

WITNESSES:

J I am M W DIETER TORPEDO STEERING GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 3| I917.

Patented July 17, 1917.'

' 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENTQR By Azzomeys,

WITNESSES: gm!

WILLIAM DIETER, or BROOKLYN,

NEW YORK, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

ASSIGNOR TO E. W. BLISS COMPANY, OF

TORPEDO STEERING-GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1917.

Application filed February 3, 1917. Serial No. 146,501.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM DIETER; a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, in thecity and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Torpedo Steering-Gears, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to means for steering of automobile torpedoesunder control of a gyroscope, or the latter might be substituted by anyother equivalent directive means.

Torpedoes are steered on a sinuous course which at frequent intervalscrosses the theoretical course or line of aim. The present invention hasfor its object to bring the sinuous course into closer coincidence withthe straight line which the torpedo should follow, and thereby toincrease the precision of the steering of the torpedo. In actualpractice the, present invention reduces theangle of deviation from thetrue course or line of aim to about one-fourth of that heretoforeresulting; orin other words, it makes the direction of the torpedo fourtimes as accurate. The invention is of special importance. when an anglefire is used, wherein the torpedo is launched with its rudder set to oneside to steer a circular course until, according to the angular settingof the gyroscope, the mechanism is released and the normal steering on astraight line course is begun.

These results are accomplished by an improved construction of the palletdevice used for communicating the control from the gyroscope to thesteering mechanism proper.

he construction of the pallet is such that certain lost motion hithertoinherent in the construction is eliminated, while at the same time anyliability of jamming or injury'is avoided.

The improved construction is shown in the accompanying drawings,wherein,-

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of such parts of thegyroscope steering mechanism of the Bliss-Leavitt torpedo as arenecessary to enable the present invention to 'be understood;

Fig. 2 is a plan of a portion of this mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a the line 33,

plan in horizontal section on Fig. 5;

Figs. 4c and 5 are respectively front and rear elevations of the palletdevice;

Figs, 6 and 7 are horizontal sections thereof on the line 66 in Fig. 1,showing the pallet in two different positions;

Fig. 8 shows the several parts separated, each being in elevation, andtwo of the parts being partly in section;

Figs. 9 to 16 inclusive are diagrams of the pallet, the purpose of whichwill develop as the description proceeds.

The control of steering mechanism from a gyroscope through a tappetdevice is set forth in principle in patent to Leavitt, N 0. 795,045,dated July 18, 1905. The mechanism as subsequently applied to the Bliss-Leavitt torpedoes is shown in the following patents, namely,

Leavitt, N o. I 925,710, June 22, 1909;

1,080,116, Dec. 2, 1913; Dieter, 1,153,678, Sept. 14, 1915,

and the latter patent explains the operation under curved or angle'fire.

In such mechanisms the gyroscope carries a disk formed with a directivecam, toward and from which is rapidly reciprocated a light pallet ortwo-armed piece (called in Patent No. 7 95,045 affeeler) which gentlytouches the cam surface and receives therefrom a direction according tothe angular position of the torpedo relatively to the gyroscope, and onits return movement acts as a tappet by striking a part or parts whichin turn communicate movement to the valve of the steering engine or toother controlling means for determining the movement of the rudder.

In the following description it will be assumed that the construction,otherwise than here shown, is the same as that in Patent N 0. 1,153,678above referred to.

Referring to Fig. 1, the gyroscope A comprises the usual fly-wheel a,inner gimbal ring Z and outer gimbal ring 6, the latter pivoted on avertical axis and carrying a cam disk B against which works the pallet Cwhich is hung on the lower end of a vertical spindle d which hasbearings in a sleeve 0- forming part of a slide 7 which is reciprocatedby an eccentric 9, so that the pallet C is caused to rapidly approachand recede from the cam disk. The upper end of the spindle d carries atappet arm k which during the retreating movement may strike I either oftwo tappet levers i 21' whereby to displace these in either directionand thereby through connecting rods 9' k to shift the valve of thesteering engine; K, which in turn operates the rudder. This mechanism,being well understood, requires no further description. I i w Tocomprehend my invention'it is neces- 'sary that the precise modeofoperation of the old means be understood. This can best be understoodby reference to the diagrams, Figs; 9 to 1 In Fig. 9 the cam disk B isshown with its cam-projection m on-the center, or in line with thedirection of movement (line m-w) of reciprocation of the pallet G. InFig. 9 the pallet is shown at the end of its backward or recedinmovement, and as in its mid-position. I in this position of the partsthe pallet approaches the cam, its projecting fingers or pawls n n enteron opposite sides of the 0am m, so that the pallet is not tilted, butmay" take the position shown in dotted linesq, If,

. however, the cam is tilted a slight angle or partially oif the linew-w, as shown in Fig. 10, the effect of the advancing move.- ment of thepallet will be that one ofits pawls would strike the cam and the otherwould clear it, thereby tilting the pallet to the position shown in Fig.10. Such tilting to either side is the normal action, the intermediateposition shown in-Fig. 9 not occurring in ordinary practice. Being thustilted, the return or retreating movement of the pallet causes itstappet arm h, which is likewise tilted into the path of one of thetappet levers i 2", to strike that lever and thereby shift the valve ofthe engine to throw the rudder. So long as the angular deflection of thecam is to one side, the tilting of the pallet is to that side (see Fig.10). To provide for a considerable degree of angular deflection beyondthat corre' sponding to the width of face of the cam m, it is customaryto construct the cam disk with upper and lower ribs ;0 p", (Fig. 1) andto locate the respective pawls of the pallet at diiferent levels, (Fig.5) so as to engage these respective ribs so that the cam disk can beturned through perhaps 120 degrees from the normal position in case ofan angle fire. The reciprocating and tilting action thus far describedis the normal steering action.

Another operation occurs in practice, either on the testing stand or inan actual run in making an angle fire. In this operation the cam disk Bswings or revolves (relatively to the torpedo and hence to the direction00-11?) and in this movement the cam m enters into engagement with thepallet C, if the latter is advanced. On the testing stand the pallet maybe standing stationary in its advanced position, in which case the cam mmust be able to swing through and rock the pallet and disengage itselftherefrom, it being understood that any failure to do so would causebinding .and distortion of the parts and would wreck the mechanism. Thisoperation may be best studied on the assumption that the pallet isadvanced and the cam is moving from below to above the pallet in thedirection shown in Fig. 11. As the cam enters into engagement with thepallet the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 10; when passing thecenter they occupy the position shown in Fig. 12, and on clearing thepallet the parts take the position shown .in Fig. 13. It will beobserved that the spindle (Z- on; which the pallet is pivoted, insteadof being in line between-the ends of the pawls n n, is displacedbackwardly a considerable distance therefrom. It is to this arrangementthat. the ability of the pallet. to clear the cam during the describedswinging movement'is due. dottedlines in Fig. 12, which are reproducedin the diagram, Fig. 14, where 0 :is the center of the spindle, 1' *0 isthe arc of movement of the tip of the pawl, 0 r is the radius of thepawl, 0/1; is! the final position of the radius after completing themovement, and 1' s is a line developed from 1' parallel with thedirection of movement w a:. There is thus a lost motion in lateraldirection which is necessary to enable the cam to actuate and safelyclear the pallet when the cam disk is turned while the cal as thedistance of '0' from the line m.-w

is greater than the distance of 'r' from that line. The precise effectis modified also partly by the minimum safe clearance to be allowed forthe direct entry of the cam mi between the pawls n n (see dotted linesin Fig. 9), and for the lateral swing of the tappet arm' h before itwill strike either tappet lever i i. For a given mechanical clearancenecessary for safety, the extra clearance due to the rearward locationof the center 0 involves that much greater margin of inaccuracy in thesteering of the torpedo.

With the old construction thus far described the result of theseclearances in an actual torpedo is that the torpedo axis divertslaterally about one-half degree (30') between rudder operations, so thatwhen the torpedo axis is swinging off from the theoretical course orline of aim, it diverts about 15 This will be clea'r from the from thatcourse before the rudder is oper- .anism, which should course. In astraight fire with a short course this deviation is not serious but wltha long course or a curved fire it may become an important source oferror. For example, with a 10,000 yard course a deviation of 15 wouldamount to about 44 yards at the target. Although thi deviation on astraight fire is constantly corrected by an equal and oppositedeviation, yet every torpedo has some tendency to drift laterally, andthe less frequently thi drift is corrected the more it affects theaccuracy of the steering of the torpedo. On a curved or angle fire thetorpedo steers a circular course for a predetermined number of degreesand then the steering is taken up by the gyroscope mechcause the torpedoto steer on a tangent from said circle; but the precise direction ofthis tangent will be determined by the fractional part of theangulardeviation between steering functions at which the angle fire controlceases and the gyroscopic steering mechanism be 'ns to act, so that witha total deviation 0 one-half degree it becomes a matter of chancewhether this entire deviation or any part thereof, or none, shallbeimpressed upon the ultimate course. Since a deviation of one-halfdegree on a 10,000 yard course amounts to 87.5 yards, the torpedocannot, under the most favorable conditions, be accurate within thismargin of error.

The facts thus stated show the importance,

in order to obtain accuracy upon long ranges or with angle fire, ofbeing able to diminish the margin of lateral deflection between steeringoperations. This is accomplished by the new construction which will nowbe described.

Referring to Fig. 15, which is a diagram corresponding to Fig. 12, it isseen that the center or displaced to 0 at the intersection of the lineswm and 3 y, the latter line coinciding withthe tips of the pallet pawls.This construction eliminates the lost motion already described andpermits the pallet and cam to interengage with only sufl'icientmechanical clearance to avoid jamming during the normal reciprocatingapproach. Whenthe cam 1s slightly deflected the pallet is rocked by it,as shown in Fig. 16, this rocking taking place around the new center 0'.

his new arrangement is found in practice to eliminate a very largeproportion of the inaccuracy due to the causes already described.

This construction would be wholly impracticable in a torpedo because thecam, in the effort to swing through the approached pallet in themovement described with reference to Fig. 11, would almost inevitablyjam and break the pallet mechanism. This is best understood from Fig.16, where the cam m may be assumed to be moving downaxis 0 of thespindle d has been wardly, in which case it would strike squarelyagainst the pawl n in front of 1t, and as neither part would yield, thepallet or its mounting would be broken. In the posltion shown in Fig. 15a movement in either direction would be resisted by the periplendicularthrust and would be blocked. ence, such a construction would inevitablyresult in disaster.

To avoid this the present invention provides the pallet with two pivotalcenters, the main one, that for the spindle d, being at the point 0,while an auxiliary pivot is provided with its center at the point a, Fi12, or at or substantially the position 0 the center in the oldstructure. The former center 0' is the one on which the pallet turns inthe normal steering operations. The latter centeri-s the one on whichthe pallet turns whenever necessary to free itself from the cam, andespecially to enable the latterto swing through while on the testingstand or in the execution of a curved fire.

The construction will be best understood from Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive.Instead of the pallet 0 being fixed on the lower end of the spindle d,it is pivoted to a cross-head g which is fixed to the lower end of thespindle. The crosshead has four arms, one of which, 11, forms the bossfor inserting the screw t on which the pallet is pivoted to thecrosshead; two lateral arms 12, 12 are provided, having holes 13 inwhich rest loose pins u u. The fourth side of the crosshead has a bossreceiving a screw 14, on which is carried a spring 15 which pressesagainst the middle of a cross-bar or equalizing lever 16, the ends ofwhich engage the rear ends of the pins it while their front ends passingthrough the arms 12 bear against upright pins w w fastened to the palletC. The pins u are made, as shown in Fig. 8, with the thickened portionforming double shoulders, one of which receives the pressure of thespring through the cross-bar 16, and the other abuts against the arm 12of the crosshead 9 so that, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, the parts areheld in their normal symmetrical position. If now a tiltingthrust shouldcome upon the pallet (as in the swinging through movement of the cam),the tilting effort would cause one of its pins to to pre% back one ofthe pins u (the other pin it remaining immovable), whereby the equaliz-1ng plate 16 acts as a lever, turning on the unmoved pin as a fulcrum,and transmitting the spring pressure to resist the displacement of themoved pin, as clearly shown in Fig. 7 Thus, in the swinging throughmovement of the cam the pallet has the same capacity for tilting and thesame ability to clear itself as in the former construction, the in thatof the spring 15.

ile the construction thus described is only resistance encountered insuch case be-- i 50 1 prising av controlling cam and a reciprocatvbelieved the best for accomplishing this I r yielding mounting of thepallet, yet obviously various other constructions for simiv 'teenthdegree; rudder to shift hr purposes are known in the arts and anysuitable construction may be substituted as an equivalent.

It is found in actual practice that the improved construction thusdescribed reduces the angle of divergence between the torpedo axis andthe steering axis necessary to reverse the rudder from 15' to less than4:

that is, from one-quarter degree to one-sixin other words, it causes thefour times as often, and with one-fourth theangular divergence, andhence makes the torpedo four times as accurate in its steering. Itresults that the sinuous course of the torpedo swings only one-fourth asfar as heretofore from the true course, and hence the steering iscorrected four times as often, so that the sinuous course approaches farmore ideal straight course. I-Ience, theoretically, the. extreme marginof error on a 10,000

yard course is reduced from 87 .5 yards to less than 22-yards,anincrease in accuracy which 'is particularly desirable in an angle Itis essential to the reciprocal clearance of the cam and pallet that oneof these parts be capable of yielding movement and be pro- --vided witha spring to hold it in its normal position, this spring being strongenough to so hold it during normal operation, but capable of yielding toenable the parts to clear in casethe cam swings through the pallet whilethe latter is advanced. Conceivably, the cam might be the yieldingmember, but this would involve suchpractical difliculties that I havefound it far preferable to introduce the yielding function in the mounting of the pallet. I My invention is not limited to the introduction ofthe yielding means between', the pallet and the reciprocating spindle d,it being within my invention to prov1de any yielding means whereby thepallet maygdisengage itself from the cam ,during the lateral movement ofthe latter.

I claim as my inventions-1 1. ha torpedo steering mechanism coming alletpivotally mounted on an upright such spindle having its axis locatedapproximately in line between the pallet pawls, and yielding meanswhereby the cam and'p'allet may reciprocally disengage during a rotative'movement' of the cam. I

2. In a torpedo closely to the to the spindle the plate and steeringmechanism comrising a controlling cam and a reciprocating palletpivotally mounted on an upright spindle, such spindle having its axislocated approximately in line between the pallet pawls, and thepallethaving an independently yielding mounting adapted to enable it tofreegitself from the cam when the latter is moving rotatively while thepallet is advanced.

' 3. In a torpedo steering mechanism comprising a controlling cam and areciprocating pallet pivotally mounted on an upright spindle, such spine having its axis located approximately in line between the palletpawls, and the pallet pivotedrelatively to said spindle upon a pivotalcenter displaced. from the spindle axis to enable the pallet to yieldindependently to clear itself from the cam.

4. In a torpedo steering mechanism com-- prising a controlling cam and"a reciprocating palletpivotally mounted on an uprightspindle, suchspindle having its axis located approximately in line between the palletpawls, a head carried by said spindle," the pallet pivoted to said headupon a center displaced rearwardly from the spindle axis, and yieldingmeans for holding the pallet in normal relation to the head.

5. In a torpedo steering mechanism com-' and a spring pallet to hold it.normally in fixed relation and head.

axis located 6. In a torpedo steering mechanism com-.

prising a controllingcam and a reciprocating pallet pivotally mounted onan upr1ght spindle, such spindle having its axis located approximatelyin line between the pallet pawls, a head carried by said spmdle, thepallet pivoted to said head upon a center displaced rearwardly from thespindle axis, shoulderedpins carried by the head, a lever plate engagingsaid pins, and a spring pressmg against said plate and acting throughmally in fixed relationto the head. a I I In witness whereof, I havehereunto signed my name.

{WILLIAM DIETER pins to hold the pallet nor spindle and

